70 C. F. MAESHALL. 



connected with the part of the fibre stained by gold, this 

 again points to the latter being the essential portion of the 

 fibre ; while if RoUett's view is correct, we should expect the 

 nerve-ending to be connected with the muscle-columns. 



7. The apparent connection in some cases of the network 

 with the intra-nuclear network of the muscle-corpuscles is in 

 favour of the network view. 



8. Lastly, the network view places the muscle-cell on a basis 

 of comparison with other cells having intra-cellular networks, 

 whereas all other views of the structure are at variance with 

 such a comparison. 



Dr; Klein^ adopts Rollett's view in the new edition of his 

 text-book, and states that ''the reticulation described by 

 Melland, Marshall, and others, is due to the coagulation of 

 the sarcoplasma brought about by certain hardening reagents." 



Dr. Michael Foster apparently holds the same view of the 

 structure in the new edition of his book,^ for he states that the 

 muscle-substance is composed of longitudinal fibrillse, embedded 

 in interfibrillar substance which stains with gold, and hence 

 appears as a network. He says, " The interfibrillar substance 

 is relatively to the fibrillse more abundant in the muscles 

 of some animals than in those of others, being, for instance, 

 very conspicuous in the muscles of insects, in which animals 

 we should naturally expect the less differentiated material to 

 be more plentiful than in the muscles of the more highly 

 developed mammal." 



Now, I think I am right in saying that the muscular system 

 of insects is the most highly developed in the animal kingdom ; 

 certainly the muscles are far more powerful in comparison with 

 the size of the animal than in mammals, and among insects 

 are found the most rapid movements. It therefore appears to 

 me that the fact of the meshwork being more conspicuous in 

 the muscles of insects is strongly in favour of its being the 

 active part of the pike, and not of the nature of interfibrillar 

 substance. 



^ ' Elements of Histology,' p. 7G. 



2 'Text-book of Physiology,' vol. i, p. 91. 



